The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati has denied a stay of deportation for John Demjanjuk, the 89-year-old retired autoworker and accused Nazi death camp guard. While the decision could be appealed to the United States Supreme Court, they have not been sympathetic to his appeals in the past, denying them all. You can read the 6th Circuit order denying the stay of deportation here.
John Demjanjuk, 88 has managed to escape his alleged Nazi past for over 60 years. He has lived a quiet life in suburban Cleveland fighting United States Justice Department efforts to deport him. He has beaten an Israeli death sentence. He had his United States citizenship revoked in 1981, restored in 1998 and then revoked again in 2002 based on Justice Department evidence showing he concealed his service at Sobibor and other Nazi-run death and forced labor camps. A movie has been made loosely based on his saga.
In the non-Hollywood real world, Germany has issued a warrant for Demjanjuk’s arrest. German prosecutors claim Demjanjuk was an accessory to some 29,000 deaths during World War II as a guard at the Sobibor concentration camp in Nazi-occupied Poland.
Demjanjuk had previously beaten back a final deportation order to Germany(an immigration judge ruled in 2005 he could be deported to Germany, Poland or Ukraine) when he received a stay of deportatino with six U.S. Customs agents standing right on his door step of his suburban Cleveland home, wheel chair in hand(literally) with a wheel chair accessible van, ready to escort him to the airport in Cleveland for a forced and unwanted journey into his Nazi past. Demjanjuk claims that he is unable to travel due to his poor health and that any deportation under such circumstances would constitute cruel would amount to torture.
The Demjanjuk citizenship and deportation odyssey began in Israel. He was originally sentenced to death in Israel, convicted of being the Nazi death camp guard “Ivan the Terrible”. The Israeli Supreme Court later overturned the conviction, saying another man was probably “Ivan,” a sadistic guard at the Treblinka death camp where 870,000 people died. He then returned to the United States and had his citizenship restored.
Demjanjuk was stripped of his U.S. citizenship again in 2002, with a judge ruled that he had worked as a guard at other death camps. Because no country was willing to take him and it is unconstitutional to incarcerate him, he as been able to live quietly in his Cleveland home.
As to the stripping of his citizenship and aggressive deportation stance taken by the Justice Department, Edward Nishnic, a spokesman for Demjanjuk’s family once stated:
“This is taking it to the ridiculous……. It’s another form of harassment against a very and very frail man.”
Nishnic said the family was relieved the stay was granted.
“We’re delighted. We’re prepared to make our arguments with the 6th Circuit, and it’s just a shame that Mr. Demjanjuk had to go through the hell that he went through once again this morning,”
His wife Vera had previously old told a German newspaper:
“His brain is not functioning correctly. One day he recognizes everything, the next day he has forgotten it all. He goes to the doctor for injections once a week, otherwise he wouldn’t be around much longer.”
The U.S. attorney general’s office has filed a response to Demjanjuk’s 6th Circuit motions, saying the court does not have the authority to rule on a previous denial for a stay by the U.S. Board of Immigration Appeals.
“Because there is no reviewable final order of removal, this court lacks jurisdiction,” the government said. “Simply put, this court does not have the statutory authority to entertain his request and related motion.”
In addition to his cruel and unusual argument, Demjanjuk has consistently maintained that he is a victim of mistaken identity and wrongly targeted in a two decade vendetta by the United States Justice Department.
Should John Demjanjuk be deported to Germany to face trial for his crimes? I say yes. If there is to be mercy based on age and health for Mr. Demjanjuk, it is for a German court and the citizens of the nation where he stands accused to decide. There is a valid extradition order. There is a valid deportation order. There is a treaty in place. That is how it works. It is time for John Demjanjuk to go home and face his past.
You can read an actual pleading from the case that contains an excellent summary of the facts and some of Demjanjuk’s arguments here.
** Order Of Stay Issued By The Sixth Circuit Court Of Appeal
May 1st, 2009 at 10:23 pm
Considering the cruel and unusual treatment the jews went through, I've got zero sympathy for this SOB. He's had the chance to lead a normal life. The jews he allegedly put to death sure as hell didn't. Is the world really worried about one man's "suffering" (flying in a plane) after the thousands that allegedly suffered under his hand? Karma. He's got what's coming to him.
May 8th, 2009 at 11:46 pm
I guess if there is "evidence" that he is guilty so be it. BUT….the way the jewish lobby runs our government gives me pause that "justice' is always served. There will never be a discussion of the slaughter of millions of Christian Ukranians ………….research that one…………….
May 12th, 2009 at 6:44 am
I think it's ridiculous. In the midst of all this global turmoil, someone is going through all this trouble to deport a "now" harmless old man already acquitted in israel across the world for another trial. It's just plain dumb and unnecessary in my opinion. I agree with Brickner. Are we going through all this trouble and attention for the black hand in guatemala, atrocities in africa, ukrainian christians, cheney, etc… I mean really, he's 89. Maybe we should get another jewish holocaust movie jammed down our throat next week to harden our spirits a bit. I am sure hollywood has one lying around somewhere.
May 12th, 2009 at 5:54 pm
Revenge is not justice! It angers me greatly that this man is being put through hell. These countries had their chance to persecute him. Just let him die near his family. If he's truly guitly, then God will punish him.
May 12th, 2009 at 6:27 pm
I've met survivors that are far less bitter about their experiences than the people on here complaining of the "Jewish lobby" and being somehow forced to endure what they might term Jewish propaganda. Like they frequently say to you about the anti-Semitic FB content, no one is forcing them to watch/read it.
May 13th, 2009 at 12:45 am
Actually they are forcing you to watch/read it. While in public school, I was assigned (forced) to read "Night" by Elie Wiesel, The Diary of Anne Frank, and a number of short stories that I cannot recall the name of in English class(not even World History-the holocaust was textbook material there). In 7th grade, the annual six flags trip was cancelled and changed to visit a holocaust museum. That is about as forced as I can imagine. I would say that the Holocaust has its own genre in hollywood. To me the mere word "holocaust" meant WWII Jewish persecution event until I reached college where I learned of the many holocausts throughout history. This is not to detract from the nastiness of the WWII Jewish persecution, I think we can all agree it was horrific. I am merely saying that someone is jamming it down everyone's throat. I suppose I would do the same if that was a part of my past and I had the resources. Nonetheless, why would it be illegal to deny the wwII jewish persecution, and not the Khmer rouge, or that the earth is round, or that Jesus was a prophet and not the son of god, or mohammed, or whatever, what places the holocaust above any other historical incident? The Jewish holocaust was not particularly pointed, savage, or unique in anyway. I challenge anyone to give me an aspect of it that is unique to all other horrific incidents. If someone can then I will agree with these laws and movies and books and museums and presentations and lobbies etc…
May 13th, 2009 at 2:09 am
I was forced to read a lot of crap I didn't want to read in school, but I wasn't an adult and I'm not bitter about it. All the books you mentioned, by the way, are excellent. Also, neither I nor Brian are advocating making Holocaust denial illegal. In fact, I am on the fence as to whether these guys should even be banned from Facebook (private sphere). As to whether other events in history are equally horrific, that's about as subjective as it gets. And it is a difficult question, admittedly. But the the Holocaust is unique in my opinion, because of the combination of three different factors: scale, orchestration, and target.
Scale- doesn't need much explanation, and yes, there have been many atrocities larger in death toll.
Orchestration- There had never been such a highly concerted effort to eliminate an entire people–I'll get to this later–from the Earth. This is reflected in the documentation of 1942's Wansee Conference, the fact that the designs had to be commissioned to facilitate the pace and scale of the murder and then seen in to fruition, the fact that war materiel was actually diverted from the front to deliver the Jews to the camps even though it was known this would hamper the war effort (and these orders came from the top), and myriad other ways.
Target- People are hated for every conceivable reason. Most of the time, however, it is because of something they believe in, something they do, or something they are thought to do. In this case, it was mostly ethnic hatred. And ethnicity is not voluntary or a matter of choice. I am a Jew and I will always be a Jew and this is iniscapable. I am an agnostic, I don't practice, and I was even born of a shixa (non-Jewish mother), which means to many Jewish people that I am not even one of them. But to Hitler and the Nazis, none of this mattered. It was that Jewish blood, no matter how little, that made me inferior and part of the problem. In other words, no matter who one really was, if they had one drop, they were the enemy. Something in them was thought to be fundamentally, inescapably flawed, something that rotted them to the core and accounted for all of the terrible qualities that have been assigned to my people throughout history. Jews were targeted–all of them– as a culture, a people. And they were targeted for total eradication in such a way as the world had never seen. This happened in front of our very eyes in the age of radio, the printed word, and film. So it was visible no other atrocity before.
And thus, unfortunately, it is very different.
May 13th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
You have mentioned the word bitter twice now. I am merely stating facts and questions. I am not bitter or angry that I had to read those books, watch those movies, or visit the museum. I also believe that the Jewish holocaust should be taught in school. The Diary of Anne Frank and especially Night were great books. There is no doubt about it. A recurring thought that I often have is the image of the son stealing his father's bread from under the pillow and his father's subsequent death. I learned a lot from that story. I even "enjoyed"(sorry I don't know a better word for it) going to see movies about the jewish experience in my early adult years, but after there was one or two EVERY year, I'd had enough and therefore started questioning my past as far as this subject was concerned. Why is there so much focus on the Jewish holocaust? Why from an early age did I understand why Israel was established? Why do I not hear stories that frequently of people like my grandfather-in-law that though not jewish were nonetheless in the same concentration camps. This is not to say that I don't think children should be taught about past holocausts and world geography, they should be. But why is it so pointed to a particular culture that is still in the midst of turmoil about land we helped give them? And why did we give them such a "hot" piece of property? Why didn't we establish a state in canada or australia or some other place that was not a center of fighting for the past 5000 years or so? I mean, didn't we know that it might set them up for a little more attention? One of my huge pet peeves is to see actors go out there and use their celebrity status to conjure status and sympathy for their particular causes. They are just dumb actors. Why should I listen to what they have to say? I am an engineer, in the same way, I will not pretend to know the inner workings of world politics. I merely know what I was taught in grade school about the freedom of speech, religion, etc.. Since you are at least ambivalent about laws being inacted that restrict peoples freedom of speech, then I don't see us being that far from the same page. As far as the specificity of the WWII holocaust is concerned, we just have to look in our backyard to see the same example. BTW Didn't Hitler have at least one drop of Jewish blood?
Scale: 100,000,000
Orchestration: Specific wars ordained by england, spain, the united states
Target: they were called "indian" wars. indian scalps were worth money
"There is absolutely no doubt. The greatest genocidal holocaust in human history is in fact the quasi-total extermination of the Native Indians in the New World.
Starting in 1492, Cristobal Colon (Christopher Columbus) and the Spaniards & Conquistadors, exterminated at 100%, all the Indians from the hundred of Caribbean Islands leaving no survivors behind. Then the holocaust reached South, Central & North America.
They were burned alive, had their hands, feet, noses, ears, cut off. They were devoured by large flesh eating war dogs called Perros de presa de Canario & Perros de presa Alano. European diseases also took their toil on a great many.
Some of these Spaniards in the New World, took an immense pleasure in killing them for their entertainment. Many games were invented in the numerous ways of killing them for fun.
The Catholic Spaniards looked down on them as if they were no more than mere animals of burden, or they were said to be the decendants of Cain, the biblical killer of his brother Abel, and their killing was therefore wholly justified. They were also enslaved and worked to death in silver & gold mines.
An estimated 100 million are said historically, to have been killed, leaving today only 3% of this race."
- THE AMERICAN HOLOCAUST by Historian/Author: David Stannard / Oxford University
- THE DOGS OF THE CONQUEST by Historian/Author: John Grier Varner / Oklahoma University
May 13th, 2009 at 9:34 pm
I also couldn't help myself: I remembered at the last moment. This sounds fairly close to a genocide as well. You can guess where I got it.
1 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
2 Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites: afterward shalt thou be gathered unto thy people….
7 And they warred against the Midianites, as the Lord commanded Moses; and they slew all the males.
8 And they slew the kings of Midian, beside the rest of them that were slain; namely, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian: Balaam also the son of Beor they slew with the sword.
9 And the children of Israel took all the women of Midian captives, and their little ones, and took the spoil of all their cattle, and all their flocks, and all their goods.
10 And they burnt all their cities wherein they dwelt, and all their goodly castles, with fire.
11 And they took all the spoil, and all the prey, both of men and of beasts.
12 And they brought the captives, and the prey, and the spoil unto Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and unto the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by Jordan near Jericho.
13 And Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the congregation, went forth to meet them without the camp.
14 And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host, with the captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, which came from the battle.
15 And Moses said unto them, Have ye saved all the women alive?
16 Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the Lord in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the Lord.
17 Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him.
18 But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.
19 And do ye abide without the camp seven days: whosoever hath killed any person, and whosoever hath touched any slain, purify both yourselves and your captives on the third day, and on the seventh day.
20 And purify all your raiment, and all that is made of skins, and all work of goats' hair, and all things made of wood.
21 And Eleazar the priest said unto the men of war which went to the battle, This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord commanded Moses….
25 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
26 Take the sum of the prey that was taken, both of man and of beast, thou, and Eleazar the priest, and the chief fathers of the congregation:
27 And divide the prey into two parts; between them that took the war upon them, who went out to battle, and between all the congregation:
28 And levy a tribute unto the Lord of the men of war which went out to battle….
31 And Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses.
32 And the booty, being the rest of the prey which the men of war had caught, was six hundred thousand and seventy thousand and five thousand sheep,
33 And threescore and twelve thousand beeves,
34 And threescore and one thousand asses,
35 And thirty and two thousand persons in all, of woman that had not known man by lying with him….
40 And the persons were sixteen thousand; of which the Lord's tribute was thirty and two persons.
41 And Moses gave the tribute, which was the Lord's heave offering, unto Eleazar the priest, as the Lord commanded Moses….
47 Even of the children of Israel's half, Moses took one portion of fifty, both of man and of beast, and gave them unto the Levites, which kept the charge of the tabernacle of the Lord; as the Lord commanded Moses.
10 When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it….
13 And when the Lord thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword:
14 But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the Lord thy God hath given thee.
15 Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations.
16 But of the cities of these people, which the Lord thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth
And what about the initial establishment of the kingdom of David?
My point is; We are all both guilty and victims of genocide in one form or another. Why then is this particular one getting so much attention? And why are we sending an 89 year old to germany who has already been tried? And why is it specifically illegal to deny the jewish holocaust in europe? What is going on? As far as visibility, 20% tutsis horrifically murdered in rwanda and all over the papers. Very, very visible while it's going on. During the jewish holocaust, the general public did not know of it's occurrence.